Eastern Bank Sells 23,624 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Eastern Bank cut its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 809,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,624 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up approximately 1.1% of Eastern Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Eastern Bank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $64,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 24.8% during the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 64,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 12,738 shares in the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.0% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 326,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,624,000 after acquiring an additional 15,600 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,845,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,783,000 after purchasing an additional 60,324 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 286.0% in the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after purchasing an additional 16,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 60,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after purchasing an additional 23,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $95.00 price target on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.44.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $91.44 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $95.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.49 and a 200 day moving average of $84.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79 and a beta of 0.76.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The business had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were given a $0.6232 dividend. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 7,161 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total value of $646,423.47. Following the sale, the treasurer directly owned 26,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,411,924.13. This trade represents a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 190,816 shares of company stock valued at $17,075,619 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.